


jusqu’au jour où que je mourrai

by softsonnett



Category: The Originals (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, F/F, cute and fluffy, i call you hot in another language and you understand, so does keelin, the mikaelsons speak french
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-10-26 19:42:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17752256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softsonnett/pseuds/softsonnett
Summary: Freya Mikaelson and her siblings can normally be found in their local bar Roussaeus’s. One night, Keelin Malraux and  her friends go to said bar. Freya and her family often speak in french in the bar to stop people listening in on their conversation but unbeknownst to them, Keelin is currently learning french and understands completely when Freya calls her attractive.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Friends! This is my first fic in a while so bear with me for a lil while. There aren’t many freelin fics on here so I decided to write one. This is based off the social media au on twitter that i’m doing! Please feel free to check it out! My twitter is @tatisgabrieIle <3

“Please Hayley” Freya asked, for the third time in the past ten minutes.

“Freya, I told you I can’t” Hayley responded, unimpressed.

The brunette moved around the kitchen, preparing a sandwich as the blonde stood, leant against the island in the centre of the room.

“Why though?” Freya enquired, “I went with you every night to Rousseau’s when you were trying to get with my brother so why can’t you, my best friend, come with me tonight?” Freya crosses the room to mirror her position on the counter where Hayley was working.

“That was different okay? I actually knew Elijah, and I knew he was going to be there. You don’t even know if this girl is going to be there tonight” Hayley carried on making her food, not looking at her friend as she spoke.

Freya sighed, defeated, and walked out of the kitchen, up the stairs and into her bedroom of the huge family home. Just before she could shut her door, she heard the voices of her four younger siblings as they returned home from their trip to the store.

“Sister! Come help us bring the bags in,” her youngest brother, Kol, shouted into the vast house.

Freya trudged her way down the steps that she had just walked up. She dragged her feet along the wood floor of the hall until she reached the entrance to the house where Elijah, Klaus, Kol and Rebekah stood, each holding two or more bags. Freya took a bag of her sister and carried it through to the kitchen she had just left. She purposefully avoided Hayley’s gaze and she placed the bag on the floor and went to exit the room.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Elijah asked her.

Freya turned slowly and looked at her brother, “I’m going back upstairs where I was about to peacefully get in bed and read a book. Do any of you have a problem with that?” She glanced between her siblings, who had all noticed the sour mood and tone to their oldest sisters voice. Her siblings looked between each other, and then to the ground, as Freya left the room and retreated back to her bedroom.

“What was that about?” Klaus questioned, looking at Hayley.

“How exactly would I know?” She shot back.

“Well, our sister was her usual perky self when we left an hour ago, then we return and it’s as if someone just ripped the final page out of every book she owns” Klaus begins to hand the recently bought food over to his siblings to put away.

“She asked me to go to Rousseau’s with her tonight and I said no” Hayley grabbed a grocery bag and emptied the contents onto the island, ready to put away.

She passed a bag of apples to the youngest Mikaelson sibling who in turn emptied the bag into the fruit bowl. “But didn’t you go with her every night when you were trying to get to know Elijah?”

Hayley recounted that Freya had already made that point before Rebekah decided to resolve the situation. She left her brothers and Hayley to unpack the groceries and headed upstairs to her oldest siblings bedroom. She knocked once on the door before entering to find her sister getting ready to head out.

“Who exactly is this girl then?” The younger sister asked, sitting down on the edge of Freya’s king sized bed.

Freya glanced over at her sister but carried on applying her make up, “I don’t know. I’ve only seen her a few times but there’s just something about her”.

Freya raised two sets of earrings before looking to her sister for advice.

“The ones on the left,” the youngest responded, without even being asked a question, “I’ll come with you then. I’ll talk to Hayley and get her to come but Kol and I will join you as well. You and I both know he isn’t going to turn down drinks”.

The sisters shared a smile before the younger of the two headed back downstairs and the older towards her walk in closet.

 

xx

 

Over the course of the afternoon, Rebekah managed to convince Hayley that after all the times she tagged along on family hangouts to get to know Elijah, it was only fair she do the same this time for Freya, even if it was the third time this week, it was Saturday after all. And so at 7pm, Hayley and Freya headed out to Rousseau’s, with Rebekah and Kol having an errand to run before they joined the two friends.

The girls entered the building and aimed straight for their usual two seats at the bar. Josh, long time bartender and friend to the girls, supplied them both with their usual drinks.

“So when was the last time you saw her in here then?” Hayley asked, taking a sip of the drink that had just been handed to her.

“I think it was Tuesday. I came in with Klaus after work and she was here alone. I was going to go over but just as I got the courage to, she left,” the blonde responded, scanning the bar looking for the girl she had been crushing on from afar for the past month. When she couldn’t find the girl, she turned around to face the bar and drank her drink in silence.

The silence didn’t last long. In fact it lasted about thirty seconds before Freya heard the door open and spun around on her chair so fast she almost fell. She looked up quickly, hoping to see the girl walk in, and was disappointed when it was just some guy.

This routine continued for about 20 minutes until the two youngest Mikaelson siblings arrived at the bar, after being texted by Hayley about 100 times to hurry up. Her siblings presence calmed Freya slightly, enough to take a few group selfies, as one must always do at a bar. Another thing that helped calm Freya, shots. Tequila shots. 2 each, ordered by Kol.

The four continued to drink and laugh, and watch the door, in Freya’s case, for another 20 peaceful minutes until the subject of Freya’s affection walked through the double wooden doors. The woman was around Freya’s age, maybe a little older, with dark skin and eyes that matched. Her brown hair was curly, and just reached her shoulders. The blonde coughed, and split her drink slightly on her lap, drawing mystery girl’s attention to her. The two girls locked eyes and Freya spun around in her chair, hiding her face from the other girl.

“Well, if you wanted her to notice you, that’d do it,” Kol joked, laughing with his youngest sister.

“Two more shots for each of us please.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Hope you all enjoy this chapter. I know it isn't the longest but I do hope to make longer chapters the more I get into this story. From now on I will be aiming to post at least once a week, usually Saturdays or Sundays, and hopefully some weeks I'll be able to post on Tuesdays/Wednesdays as well! I hope you are all enjoying this story so far <3

As the woman entered the bar, she sat down at the table closest to the Mikaelsons, making Freya tense up. She tightened her grip on the beer in her hand, almost cracking the glass. The youngest of the siblings squeezed her sister’s shoulder, reminding her to breathe. She gestured to Josh to bring over one more shot for each of them.

  
The oldest Mikaelson kept ordering shots for her friends for the rest of the night. Hayley stopped accepting them after the fourth, with Rebekah stopping at her seventh. Kol and Freya, however, were both on their eleventh shot of the night. The drinking had sped up once a man had joined the subject of Freya’s affection.

  
“Who’s that?” Her brother had asked, as a tall man entered the bar and walked over to the girl, who had sat down on the table next to the four of them.

  
Freya had never seen the man before, only ever seeing the girl come in the bar alone. The only person the blonde had ever seen her talk to was Josh, the bartender. The man approached his friend and kissed the top of her head. Freya couldn’t tell if it was a platonic or romantic kiss, she hoped it was platonic. She narrowed her eyes and grit her teeth before turning around and ordering another shot, and another, and another as the girl was eventually joined by a few other friends. One looked familiar, a friend of Klaus’, Freya thought, maybe more than a friend. It was hard to keep up. One seemed to know her brother, a short girl, brunette. And one that piqued Rebekah’s interest, an African American man about the same height as the first man to enter the bar.

  
Around 10pm, Rebekah and Hayley looked between each other and silently decided that this would be the siblings’ last drinks. They called Josh over and told him to stop serving them drinks, not wanting to deal with not only two drunken Mikaelsons, but also two hungover Mikaelsons. The two siblings fought back slightly, before realising it was probably for the best.

  
The four stayed in the bar a while longer, watching the world go by, before Kol and Freya decided they wanted beignets. They demanded the two relatively sobers ones should be the one to get them as ‘it was safer’. After a promise from Josh to look after the siblings, Rebekah and Hayley headed down the street to the only beignet truck still open at this time.

  
“So what are gonna do then?” The brunette asked, walking side by side with her boyfriend’s sister.

Rebekah looked at her, questioningly, “About what?”

  
“Your sister being pretty much in love with a girl she’s never even spoken to”, Hayley stated, approaching the truck.

They ordered four beignets as they continued their conversation.

“Freya just gets like this sometimes. She’s not in love with the girl. It’s just a simple case of infatuation. She’ll get over it soon. Especially if she isn’t even going to talk to the girl” Rebekah said to her friend, passing the correct amount of money over to the teenage son of the woman who owned the truck. He passed the girls their change and food and wished them well. “Trust me, I know my sister.”

  
The two girls walked in silence back to the bar, the only sounds on the street being the rustling of leaves and muffled music from inside Rousseau’s.

  
_She make my heart stop drop and roll_

  
_I’m on fire baby yes I know_

  
Freya glanced over at the woman once again, for possibly the hundredth time that night. The woman turned just before Freya could look away, and caught her staring. She smiled softly at the blonde, melting Freya’s heart. Kol chuckled to himself as his sister returned the smile and looked to him, heart eyes on full show.

  
_She make my heart stop drop and roll_

_I’m on fire when you touch my soul_

Rebekah and Hayley entered the building once again, drawing Freya’s attention away from mystery girl. Freya’s eyes went from adoring to mischievous as soon as she spotted the well-known bag of beignets in her sister’s hand. She sprung out of her chair and practically vaulted a nearby table to reach the two girls. She snatched the bag out of her sister’s grasp and returned to the bar, requesting a plate from Josh, who brought one over almost immediately, knowing if he didn’t, he’d be finding sugar and crumbs all over his bar top for the next two weeks.

  
After watching the two Mikaelsons devour the sugary pastry treats, Rebekah and Hayley left Kol and Freya to their own devices. Freya urged them to stay, stating she needed the emotional support if she was actually going to talk to the mystery girl tonight, but her youngest sister refused, expressing to her sister that most people don’t Mondays off work.

  
“They can have one more drink each, Josh,” Rebekah let the bartender know, ”But nothing more than 15% alcohol alright? I’m not cleaning up vomit tonight”.

  
The bartender laughed at the youngest Mikaelson, “Y’know Bex, sometimes I forget you’re not actually the oldest Mikaelson.”

  
“God, tell me about it. She thinks she’s our mother sometimes. Don’t forget though, Becka, you’re still only the baby of the family” Kol slurred, sugar still on his lips.

  
The blonde shook her head and wiped some sugar off her brother’s cheek, “Be careful, alright?” She kissed each of her siblings on the cheek before telling Josh that she’d stop by in the morning to pay the bill.

  
xx

It was around midnight when Freya’s mystery woman and her friends left the bar. Freya and the woman shared a smile as they passed each other. The siblings decided to leave only minutes after that, seeing no point in staying now that the subjects of their interest had left.

  
The two siblings stumbled out of the bar, clinging onto each other for stability – well Freya clinging onto Kol, with him just managing to stay upright. Josh followed closely behind them, ready in case one of the stumbled.

  
“I’ve called you a cab, okay? It should be here in a couple of minutes,” He informed them, “Would you like me to stay with you until it gets here or do you think you can manage?”

Freya released her brother’s arm and turned to face the bartender, “You go back inside and close Josh. We’ll be fine!” She laughed and she embraced her friend. She dismissed him before sitting on the curb with her brother, laughing at nothing. What she didn’t realise was the hot girl she came to the bar for, was sat on a bench a few yards away, watching the blonde and chuckling to herself.

  
The cab arrived only a minute after Josh left the siblings, and the ride home was filled with swing music from the driver’s radio.

  
“She’s just so pretty Kol. Her eyes are so beautiful and I know I’ve never really seen them up close but I bet they’re so pretty. And I bet she’s smart. She looks smart. Don’t you think she looks smart? She’ll have a real job like a lawyer or a doctor or something” Freya rambled to her brother, who just mumbled tiredly in response.

  
When the siblings were drunk, you could really tell the difference between them. Freya became very bubbly and talkative, not really thinking before she spoke, which often got her into trouble. Whereas Kol was the exact opposite. He became very tired and quiet and shy, not really speaking out, and showing his younger, more vulnerable side.

  
Freya continued to gush about her crush the rest of the ride home. Elijah and Klaus met their two siblings at the door as they arrived home, with Klaus giving the cab driver his fare and wishing him a good night.

  
“C’mon, you two. Let’s get you to bed shall we?” Elijah said, taking his older sisters arm, keeping her vertical.

  
Klaus wrapped an arm around his brother’s shoulders, keeping him steady, but not afraid he was going to fall. He, unlike Freya, was in flat shoes and so had an advantage over his sister when it came to walking. Freya paused at the door to take her heels off and throw them to the side, a sign that they would be moved tomorrow. The four tip-toed past their youngest sister’s room - Rebekah had gone straight to sleep when she returned home, ensuring she was ready for her 9am start at work the next day – and down the hall to their own rooms. Klaus took Kol into his room first, and Elijah continued down the hall slightly further to Freya’s room. Elijah walked his sister to her bed, pulling back the sheet and helping her onto the king sized. She got into bed fully clothed, unable and unwilling to change into something more comfortable, despite her brother advising her to change. By the time he had reached her door again, Freya was dead to the world. He switched off the lights to the room and quietly closed her door. He met his brother out in the hall, stood against the balcony looking over the foyer of their home.

  
“Well then, tomorrow will be fun,” Klaus laughed.

“Do you remember the last time they got this drunk?” Elijah asked his brother.

“Kol demanded we leave all the lights off for two days because his head hurt so much” The older brother laughed as he recounted the memory.

The two brothers stood for a moment more before heading their separate ways to their respective bedrooms.

xx

“Well hello, sister,” Klaus spoke brightly to Freya, “How are you this morning?”

  
Freya glared at her half-brother. She dimmed the lights in the kitchen before walking over to the breakfast bar. She took one look at the food before turning away and getting a cup of coffee instead, “Nope, definitely not doing food yet.”

“The fact you’re having coffee puts you at an advantage over our youngest brother. He managed a glass of water before he went straight back to bed,” Elijah told his sister, “How much did you two drink last night?”

Freya sipped on her drink as she sat down next to her brothers. “We didn’t even have that much,” She was interrupted by a laugh from her sister. She glared at the younger girl before continuing, “We’ve had more than that. We probably didn’t help ourselves by only eating two beignets the entire night” Freya shuddered at the mere thought of food.

“Did you see your girl? Speak to her?” Klaus enquired.

Hayley and Rebekah laughed.

“See her? Yes.” Rebekah stated, “Did she see us? Yes, when Freya nearly choked on her beer after seeing her. Did Freya speak to her…?”

“No, not once” Hayley finished.

“I will talk to her soon okay, just give me a break” Freya stood up.

“Where are you going?” Elijah asked.

“Somewhere quiet,” Freya replied, grabbing her coffee and retreating back to her bedroom, where she remained the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I know! Another chapter so soon. It won't be like this every day. I just wanted to keep my mojo and keep the creative flow. There will be a third chapter this week, I just can't say when. Next chapter we'll see some interactions between Freya and Keelin!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry for the delay! This past week has been so hectic. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, it is quite a short one again, it's actually shorter than the other two but I just wanted to get something out there for you guys. Chapters will 100% be getting longer from here on out.

Rebekah arrived home from work to find her sister emerging from the kitchen, dressed in sweatpants and a University of New Orleans hoodie. She looked perkier than she did when Rebekah had left for work, but still did not look good. The previous night obviously was still affecting Freya, not that Rebekah, or any of the Mikaelsons, would comment on it, for fear of being murdered by their oldest sibling.

“How’re you feeling?” Rebekah asked her sister, as she placed her coat on the hook behind the door and kicked off her shoes.

“Less like I’ve been hit by a truck, more like I’ve been hit by a car” Freya responded, “Unlike Kol, who has not been out of his room all day.” The two sisters walked into the living room of their family home. Klaus was spread out across the three seater sofa facing the TV, with Elijah on one of the two lounge chairs, Hayley on his lap. Freya walked over to her half-brother, shoved his legs off the couch and sat down, putting her feet up on the coffee table. Expectedly, all she received was a glare from him.

“How is our youngest brother then?” Klaus asked Freya, sitting up and getting comfortable again after being disturbed.

“He’s actually gotten out from under his covers now but don’t expect to see him any time tonight. I think he’s slept most of the hangover off, plus Hayley’s hangover cure definitely helped,” Freya looked over to her brother’s girlfriend, who winked at the blonde.

“And how are you, sister?” Klaus directed to Rebekah, “How was work?” He grabbed his sister’s legs and moved them so her feet were back flat on the ground, “That is a new table.”

“It was good - slow. A new doctor started working at the hospital during my week off and apparently she’s good, I didn’t get to meet her though, but I did see her walking around a few times… I feel like I’ve met her before. I recognise her but I can’t place where from” Rebekah walked around to the other lounge chair, facing Elijah and Hayley, and put her bag down next to her.

The siblings talked about their days – Elijah and Hayley were out doing errands all day, Klaus was sorting out the details of his and Freya’s upcoming business, with very little actual help from his hungover sister and Kol, well, Kol hadn’t really done much. At the mention of his name, Kol shuffled into the living room, dressed in a Superman onesie Rebekah had bought him the previous Christmas, hood pulled tight over his head.

“Hello, Brother,” Rebekah greeted her sibling as he sat on the floor next to the lounge chair, despite there being a perfectly good spot between Freya and Klaus. Kol responded only with a shake of his head, not yet ready for conversations. Rebekah chuckled to herself, patting her brother’s head lightly.

The family stayed like that most of the night, sat, comfortable in each other’s company, watching some show on the TV that Elijah put on, only talking during commercial breaks or to ask if anyone wanted some food or a drink. It was nights like this Freya loved – her and her family together, just having a quiet night in.

Around 10pm, Freya decided to head to the store to get some bread, as the family had run out and she knew someone would for sure want toast for breakfast. It was dark out, but not too dark. New Orleans never got too dark, always lit by lights from somewhere whether it be from a store, a club, a restaurant or just someone’s window. She walked down the quiet road, the only sounds to be heard was music from streets away and the slight wind that blew brown leaves across the sidewalk. She kicked a stone as she walked, listening to the jazz band that played on Bourbon Street. Freya had set a brisk pace and arrived at the story in only a couple of minutes.

She walked through the small 24 hour shop to the bakery section at the back, picking up some extra little bits on her way. She picked up both a cut and an uncut loaf (Kol didn’t like pre-cut bread and always wanted to decide the thickness of each slice depending on his mood) before heading to the refrigerated section to grab a drink before heading home. A woman was stood there already; her hair and hoodie covered most of her face, yet she seemed familiar to Freya. As she approached the drinks section, the woman turned, and Freya saw her face. It was her, the woman from the bar. The woman Freya had thought about non-stop for the past week. Recognition flashed across the woman’s face.

Before the woman had a chance to say anything, Freya abandoned the idea of buying a drink and headed over to the cashier’s desk, throwing $5 on the desk and shoving the two loaves into a bag. She practically ran back to the house, not slowing down or looking back until she got there. She burst through the door, shutting it quickly behind her and leaning against it catching her breath. Rebekah walked towards her, concerned after hearing the door close at a much louder volume than normal.

“Freya, is everything okay?” The blonde asked her sister.

“Yeah, no, uh, everything’s fine,” The oldest Mikaelson ripped through the house into the kitchen, leaving the bag on the counter, announcing to her family on the way that she was going to bed, much to their confusion, knowing Freya wasn’t one to go to bed before midnight.

Her siblings decided to look past her weirdness, chalking it up to still recovering from the night before. After all, Kol had gone back to his room about 45 minutes after he had come down to see his family.

As soon as Freya entered her room she flopped down onto her bed. Why did she panic so much? It was only a girl. She’d been with many girls, and guys, before. So why did this one, who she’s never even spoken to, freak her out so much and make her literally incapable of function like a human being? The thoughts ran through Freya’s head over and over, keeping her awake until late into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! As always, kudos and comments are always apreciated! Let me know what your thoughts are and what you want to see in future chapters. <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the wait. I had mad writer's block the past week and sogeting this chapter out has been difficult. We see a lot this chapter and I hope you enjoy getting some backstory. I really do hope you guys enjoy this chapter because I really do <3 This chapter is dedicated to @emlovestaylor who has been such a huge support since I started this fic <£3

“So what do you think of this one?” Klaus asked his older sister as they exited the sixth, and final, potential office space they’d seen that day. They’d all been extremely similar and both siblings were getting bored. “Freya,” Klaus waved his hand in front of the blondes face, hoping to get her attention.

“What, brother?” Freya snapped back to reality.

“Where were you?” Klaus asked, placing his hand comfortingly on his sister’s shoulder.

“Nowhere, I’m fine,” Freya exhaled, shaking back to the world. “It’s nice. They’ve all been nice. I don’t know why we need an office anyway. Everything I need to do, I can do at home and well, everything you do, you do at other people’s homes” The siblings walked to the stairs that led them back down to the ground floor, “Plus I don’t want a building with no lift.”

Well, that decided that then, Klaus thought. He crossed the building off his list.

“When did I become the one doing all the logistical work for this business anyway? It is literally your job,” Klaus spoke to his sister. She didn’t reply, just looked at him briefly and carried on making her way down the stairs.

The two siblings walked out of the building and towards Klaus’ car. After throwing their belongings onto the back seat, Klaus climbed into the driver’s seat, as Freya entered the passenger side. After two long minutes sitting in silence, Freya turned to her brother, wondering why the car was still motionless. She found him already staring in her direction.

“What is it, Klaus?” Freya huffed.

“There’s been something wrong the past few days and you won’t tell any of us about it. I’ve been tasked with enquiring about it and making sure you’re okay,” Klaus took his sister’s hand and moved it onto the centre console, holding it tightly, “Are you okay, Freya?”

Freya diverted her eyes away from his, exhaling, “You’re asking about the other night right? When I came home in a state?” He nodded. “When I was out, I saw the girl from the bar, and I panicked. I ran out of the store and went straight home. I don’t know what it was that happened but something has just felt off ever since.”

Klaus thought back to the night Freya was talking about. The whole family had laughed at first at their sister’s behaviour but as the night - and following days - went on, they worried for their sister. “Okay, but why did that cause you to act the way you did?”

“I don’t know. It’s stupid, I overreacted and I don’t wanna talk about it,” Freya pulled her hand from her brother’s grasp and turned to face the window. “Can we just go?”

With a look to his sister, he let the subject go and started the car. They sat in silence on the way home, the only noise in the car being the soft music playing through the radio. As they arrived back at their family home, Rebekah and Kol were making dinner.

“How was the office search?” Rebekah aimed at Freya, who dismissively walked straight past the kitchen and up the stairs to her bedroom. “Okay then… Klaus?” She turned her attention to her older brother instead, “How was the office search?”

Klaus placed his and Freya’s belongings on the dining table, “Good. We didn’t find anywhere but we did find a few we definitely don’t want,” He paused for a second, “Well, we found some they Freya definitely doesn’t want.”

“How is our sister?” The youngest Mikaelson asked, continuing to prepare the ingredients for the family dinner.

Klaus sat down at the kitchen island, watching his siblings cook, but not helping, as he explained what had happened with this sister – how she had been quiet and distracted all day, much like she had been all week, and that she shut down completely when asked about what she was feeling, “You told me to try and I did, so it’s your turn.” Klaus picked up a piece of carrot lying on the chopping board.

Rebekah slapped her brother’s hand away and agreed to speak to her sister after dinner. She and Kol continued to prepare the meal, Klaus stealing food every now and then. They were joined by Elijah and Hayley about half an hour later, once they had both finished work. They spent another 20 minutes cooking and talking before Rebekah announced it was time to serve up the meal.

“Who’s gonna go get Freya?” Hayley asked.

“Not it,” Kol shouted, displaying the food onto the six plates.

The rest of the siblings followed quickly, Hayley being the last person to say it, leaving her to go and coax her best friend downstairs. After a failed attempt at asking her boyfriend to do the task, she stood up from her seat, telling Kol she deserved the biggest portions for this, and headed up to Freya’s room.

“Hey, Freya,” Hayley knocked on the blonde’s door, pushing it open to find Freya lying on her bed, staring aimlessly at the ceiling, “Dinner’s ready if you wanna come down?” Hayley walked towards the oldest Mikaelson and perched on the edge of her bed. With a soft shake, Freya snapped out of her almost catatonic state and looked at her best friend.

“What?” She questioned.

Hayley said once again that dinner was ready and began to coax Freya out of bed. After a few minutes, the two girls were in the dining room surrounded by their family. Kol had listened to Hayley and had served her slightly larger portions compared to the rest of the family. Her siblings had assumed that Freya would return to her usual bubbly self for their weekly family meal, but they were mistaken. Freya’s mood had not improved one bit since the morning.

“How has everyone’s day been then?” Kol asked, trying to break the tension.

The family went round discussing the events of their days; everything from the errands they’d run, what they had done at work to what the weather was like and if there was any town gossip. (There was.) A new doctor _had_ started at the hospital, just as Rebekah had thought. Despite never having met this new doctor, the youngest Mikaelson had found out her name was Keelin Malraux and she had moved from Austin, Texas just over three weeks ago, starting at the hospital 10 days ago, during Rebekah’s week off. Kol had heard that the community centre was considering renovation, and he was fairly sure he’d be asked to lead the makeover. Hayley and Elijah’s day, much like Klaus and Freya’s, was pretty uneventful, giving them no stories to tell at the dinner table.

Freya was silent most of the dinner, only speaking in short sentences in response to questions asked by her siblings. There was a silent agreement between the siblings that Elijah, the calmest of the family, would try to talk to her and find out what the problem was. He and Freya had always had a connection that was different to the rest of the family.

Once dinner had ended, most of the family ended up moving to the living room to finish the Mario Kart tournament Kol, Hayley and Rebekah had started the night before. Freya left before the rest of the family, placing her empty plate in the sink and heading to the backyard. Elijah followed her out to the swing seat at the far end of the garden.

“Freya,” He approached his sister, “Mind if I sit?” Before his sister had a chance to respond, Elijah took a seat next to her.

Freya could feel her younger brother staring at her. She avoided his gaze for a few minutes, becoming irritated as he didn’t turn away, “What is it, Elijah?” She snapped, but already knowing the answer to her own question.

“What’s going on? I know you said to Rebekah and Klaus and Hayley that you’re fine, but I know you, Freya, and there’s more to this than you overreacting about this girl.” Elijah comfortingly put a hand on his sister’s knee, “I’ve seen you have a crush before and I know this is more than that… So what’s really going on?”

Freya took a breath, “I know I’ve never actually spoken to her before, but something about her - it just draws me in. The way she walks and the way she interacts with the people around her, the way she looked at me. Elijah, I haven’t felt this way about anyone so quickly since Mathias,” Freya remembered her passed lover, “And we all know what happened there.”

Elijah took his sister’s hand, “This is because of him?”

“Partly. Mostly. I mean, Elijah, I hurt everyone I care about. I can’t subject another person to that. It’s not fair,” The oldest Mikaelson finally opened herself up to her brother, “Not to me, not to them. That’s why I overreacted, why I panicked. I can’t go through what I went through with Mat, not again.”

Elijah took his sister into his arms and she started to tear up, “You don’t hurt everyone, Freya. What happened with Mathias wasn’t your fault.”

The tears started to flow from Freya’s eyes as she thought back on her first love. His death had been one of the worst experiences of her life and had caused her real pain and trauma ever since. She missed him every single day. Everyone told her that eventually it would get easier, that it would hurt less; they were wrong. Freya just got better at hiding that pain.

Meanwhile, inside the house, the rest of the Mikaelson clan were gathered around the TV, watching Kol and Rebekah play the final game of their tournament. So far Kol was winning, almost a lap ahead of his sister; he had taken the lead after Rebekah fell off the edge of the rainbow racetrack, down into the abyss. He was so close to the finish line as a red shell came flying at him, knocking him off the track, allowing the youngest Mikaelson to take over and cross the line before Kol was even respawned.

Elijah and Freya entered the house again about 20 minutes later, Freya in a much better mood. She went and sat next to her youngest brother on the couch, as Elijah moved to the love seat to sit with Hayley, kissing her on the cheek as he did. He shared a look with his half-brother, nodding his head, silently saying ‘It’s okay. She’s okay’. None of the family questioned the change in Freya’s mood, knowing that whatever their brother had said, had worked.

The night went smoothly from then. The whole family stayed in the living room until the early hours of the morning, despite most of them having work to get to the following day. They savoured moments like these, where everyone was happy and laughing and enjoying each other’s company. Hayley and Elijah left first, closely followed by Rebekah, who all had the earliest starts the next morning. It wasn’t long after that Kol and Klaus retreated to their respective bedrooms, leaving Freya alone downstairs. She wished her brothers goodnight before heading through to the kitchen to make a drink. She moved through to the dining area and walked over to the chest of draws, topped with family photos from throughout the Mikaelson’s lives. Hidden at the back was a photo of Elijah, Hayley, Klaus, Freya and Mathias at the fairground. The five were wrapped up in each other’s arms, all laughing and smiling, posed in front of an old red and yellow Ferris wheel. She remembered the photo being taken. Rebekah hadn’t been able to come home from college for the annual NOLA fair and Kol had taken off with some girl he’d just met, vowing to ‘woo her’ by the end of the night. Mikael and Ester had taken the photo. “We need a new one for the fridge,” They had stated. Freya picked up the photo, focusing on Mathias. He was smiling in the photo, enveloped in arms belonging to Freya and Elijah. She ran her thumb over his face and smiled sadly to herself.

“I’m so sorry Mat. I’ll never forgive myself for what I did to you, and I’ll never forget you,” Freya whispered, “I still think about you all the time. I still expect to hear your voice when someone knocks at my bedroom door; I still assume it’s you calling me, because no one else ever does. I miss you.”

“I wish I knew him better,” Freya heard her youngest brother’s voice behind her, “I wish I had spent more time with him.” He walked up Freya, looking at the photo over her shoulder. The eldest Mikaelson leant back into her brother, who took the photo from her hand, “This was such a good day. Remember when Klaus and Elijah had the bet of who could stay on the Waltzer the longest? Klaus got to eight and looked like he was about to throw up but Elijah - it was before he and Hayley started dating and he wanted to impress her so he stayed on for two more after that.. He looked as if he was on the brink of death when he finally got off the ride”

The two siblings chuckled at the memory.

“Then Mathias took Elijah to ‘buy some drinks’ but we all knew he was really taking Elijah somewhere he could throw up and not look like an idiot,” Kol continued, “He was a good man.”

Freya wiped a tear threatening to fall as she turned and embraced her brother. The two stood like that for a minute or two before Freya pulled away. Kol smiled at his sister, “I just came down for my phone. I left it on the table, I wasn’t spying or anything.”

Freya cut him off before he could say anything else, “I’m glad you came down. I needed to hear something positive about him or I would’ve just spiralled further into missing him.”

The two siblings shared a final hug before both going up to their rooms.

Freya closed her door and leant back against it, taking a moment to regain her composure. She changed into her pyjamas and fell straight into bed. The oldest Mikaelson must have needed sleep more than she thought as the next thing she knew, it was morning.

“Ah, sleeping beauty finally awakes,” Hayley greets her as she descends the stairs. She smiles sarcastically at her best friend, who was glad the blonde had returned to her normal self.

The family, sans Rebekah who had already left for work, sat around the kitchen island eating breakfast. Klaus’ phone pinged, a text from the missing sister. She had left her pager at the house and was asking Klaus to bring it to her, knowing he would be going past the hospital on the way to look at more office spaces. He and Freya decided to head off earlier than planned, knowing how hectic the hospital could get and that it could take a while to actually deliver the phone to their sister, meaning the breakfast was cut short.

Just before the two left the house for the day, Freya grabbed a final slice of toast each for her and Klaus, upsetting Kol who was planning on eating them himself.

The roads were mostly clear around New Orleans. Most people had already arrived at work or dropped kids off at school. Freya’s favourite part of being self-employed was that she didn’t have to get to work at the same time as everyone else and so was free from the stress of rush hour traffic. As expected, the hospital, however, was just as busy as always and so the siblings decided it would be easier for Klaus to just keep driving around the carpark and Freya just go in and drop the pager off rather than spend ages trying to find a space and both going in.

So Klaus dropped his eldest sibling at the front doors of the massive building, leaving her to navigate her way through the hospital to find her sister. As she walked through the doors, Freya text her youngest sister letting her know that she had arrived and would be at the nurses' lounge soon. The Mikaelsons were well known around the hospital, their mother having worked there before Rebekah did, and so Freya didn’t get questioned as she walked through the building towards the nurses’ lounge. She greeted a few familiar doctors and nurses as she walked the halls searching for her sister.

“Excuse me,” The blonde heard from behind her, “You can’t be up here.”

Freya rolled her eyes, _new doctors_ , she thought. “I’m just looking for my-” The blonde stopped mid-sentence as she turned and saw the person who’d addressed her, “-sister.”

It was her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed! As always, kudos and comments are greatly appreciated <3 Let me know what you think and what you want to see in future chapters! :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I thought I'd get this chapter up quickly to make up for the huge wait last week. I'll be back to the normal update schedule of Saturdays/Sundays from now on! There's a lot in this chapter and a lot that I really enjoyed writing! I really tried to flesh out the characters a bit in this chapter and give you all a bit more of a look at the family dynamics so I hope you all enjoyed that! I have to say a huge thank you to @nyslance on Twitter who helped me with the French translations in this chapter <3 Hope you all enjoy!

“It’s you,” The dark haired girl said to Freya, recognising her from their disastrous encounter almost a week ago. “What are you doing here?”

Freya was stood still, shocked. This is not what she needed first thing on a Friday morning. “My, uh, my sister, she left this,” Freya pulls the pager from her pocket, “She left this at home. I was just, uh, dropping it off for her”. The blonde stumbled over her words, waving the pager around as she spoke, “She said she’d be in the nurses’ lounge so I was just, yeah, just heading there to give it to her.”

“Who’s your sister?” The brunette asked.

Before Freya could answer, the youngest Mikaelson turned the corner onto the corridor, advancing from in front of Freya. She signalled to the blonde, “Uh, she is. That’s my sister.”

Rebekah approached her sister, embracing her as she got to her. She took the pager from Freya’s hand, thanking her as she did so. Rebekah hadn’t even noticed the brunette stood watching the two girls interact, “What would I do without you? You’re a life saver.”

The two were separated by the brunette woman clearing her throat, grabbing their attention.

The nurse extended her hand out to her colleague, not realising yet who the brunette was, “Rebekah Mikaelson, pleased to meet you…” She waited for the doctor’s name.

“Dr Keelin Malraux,” The brunette responded.

_Keelin._

“Right, well I better head off, Klaus is in the car waiting,” Freya said to her sister. She kissed the youngest Mikaelson on the cheek, “See you tonight.” Freya left without saying a word to _Keelin_ and sped out of the hospital, not stopping until she got to her brother’s car.

“Everything okay, sister?” He questioned as she jumped into the passenger seat.

“Just peachy.”

Klaus decided it was probably better to just leave it and so started the car up and left the car park of the hospital, heading to the first office they were looking at for the day.

Unfortunately, it, yet again, wasn’t what the siblings were looking for. It was the same for the two they saw after that one as well. The spaces were either too small or too dark or just didn’t have potential.

“We’re interior designers, Alex; we need a space that shows that to people. If we have what is basically a prison cell that is not going to get that message across to clients,” Klaus heard his sister berating the real estate agent from the next room, “We need space, light, big windows, something that says ‘Hi, come in, we can help you’ not ‘Hi, come in, you’ll never leave’.” Klaus chuckled at his sister. He was happy to see her back to her old ways. She ended the phone call with a huff and walked back into the main room of the office.

“He’s gonna call us tomorrow with a few more places,” Freya sounded unenthusiastic about the prospective offices, “But I’m not expecting them to be good.” The blonde ran her hand across the single shelf attached to the wall, wiping the gathered dust on her jeans in disgust.

Klaus looked at his sister, “Right. Come on,” He began to walk towards the exit of the building, beckoning Freya towards him, “I have something you’ll wanna see.”

Unsure, Freya followed her brother out to the car and let him drive her to an unknown location. It was just out of the centre of town, looked over the water, but could still be seen from Bourbon Street. It was an old building but obviously had just been renovated. From the outside it was perfect. Klaus pulled down a side street next to the building and exited the car. He walked round to the passenger side, opening the door for his sister. Freya stepped out of the car, admiring the building as she did. The two walked into the building and Klaus led them to the second floor.

Freya was confused as Klaus pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the only door in the corridor. As her brother pushed the door open, Freya saw a beautiful, all white office space with black accents and wall length windows on either side. The room was split in two by an opaque window, leaving space for a waiting room and office for her and Klaus. Freya walked into the room, admiring the black wooden floor and white spotlight lighting.

“Klaus,” Freya was perplexed, “What- How did you find this place? What is this place?”

“This, my dear sister,” Klaus walked from the entrance of the room to his sister’s side, “This is our new office.” The two siblings continued to look around, “Elijah overheard during one of his tours the other day that this place was up for sale and was exactly what we’re looking for, and so you know yesterday when I went out to a client’s?” Freya nodded at her brother, remembering hearing her brother shout through the house he was heading out, “Well, I wasn’t. I was here.”

Klaus pulled some papers from his jacket pocket, passing it to his sister. As she unrolled the documents, she saw that it was title deeds for the property. “It’s ours if you want it,” Klaus told his sister. She smiled widely, the corners of her mouth practically higher up her face than her eyes.

“Of course I do!” Freya bear hugged her brother, knocking him backwards.

The siblings spent another 30 minutes looking around their _new office space (!!!)_  before heading back to the house. It was around 4:30pm when they arrived home, meaning Kol, Hayley and Elijah were already home, having finished their respective jobs earlier in the day, with Rebekah expected home in about half an hour. Freya decides the family should go out and celebrate the end of her and Klaus’ seemingly never ending office search finally coming to an end, and there is no complaint from the rest of the family. Hayley only agreed to go on the one condition that Freya and Kol didn’t get as drunk as the last time they went out. The eldest Mikaelson sent a text to her youngest sister, informing her of the plans for the night. As expected, Rebekah was more than happy to join her family at Rousseau’s after a long week at work.

By 6:30pm, the family were dressed and ready to head to the liveliest bar in all of New Orleans. It was Jazz night in the Quarter and bands up and down all the streets were playing music, the sounds of brass spreading for miles and miles. Just outside Rousseau’s, a small jazz band of about 6 people, fittingly, played Paul Barbarin’s ‘Bourbon Street Parade’, one of Freya’s favourite songs. The family paused to listen to the song for a short while, with Kol and Freya even deciding to dance along to the song. After about a minute of looking disapprovingly on their siblings, the rest of the family eventually joined the family in dancing around Bourbon Street.

When the song ended, Klaus threw a $100 bill into a trombone case that was open on the floor, already filling with cash, and was swiftly followed by Elijah and Freya, who both put money into the case. The family shook hands with the musicians and thanked them for the song before heading into the bar they frequented. They were greeted with a wave from Josh and made their way over to their usual booth at the back of the bar. It was dark enough that people didn’t come over, but light enough they could all still see what was going on. A waiter came over and took drink orders, placing various snacks on their table, as provided by Josh.

Before Josh, his father owned the bar, which was owned by his father before him. The bar had been owned by the Rosza’s for years, having been named after Josh’s great-great-grandfather, who had used the name Rousseau, rather than Rosza, back in the 19th century to sound more French. However, a few years ago, Josh’s father almost lost the bar after going bankrupt and the Mikaelson’s decided to invest in the bar, allowing it to stay open, meaning they rarely paid for drinks.

Soon after, they were each two drinks in, with three extra-large pizzas between the six of them.

Kol cleared his throat, drawing the family’s attention away from their food, “To Freya and Klaus and the end of their annoying office search,” He raised his glass to cheers the rest of his family, only to receive a kick to the leg from Freya. “What?! I’m genuinely happy for you.” The rest of the family chuckled at the siblings’ antics.

Freya, Hayley and Rebekah decided to head to the bar to order another round of drinks, while the boys agreed it was better to leave the girls in charge of ordering, knowing they’d end up messing things up and someone would end up with the wrong drink.

The three girls took a seat at the bar and waited for Josh to come over and serve them.

“I hear congratulations are in order,” Josh said to Freya as he approached them, already pouring their usual drinks, “Rebekah told me you finally found a space for the business?”

Freya explained to Josh about Klaus finding the property just two streets over and invited him to come and look at it with her next week, to which he promptly agreed. The bartender continued to make the family’s drinks, humming along to the music playing as he glided around the bar as if it were a practiced dance.

“Don’t look now,” Freya heard her youngest sister whisper into her ear, “But Keelin, the doctor from this morning, just walked in.”

_Oh crap._

Rebekah still hadn’t realised that _Keelin Malraux_ was the girl Freya had been obsessing over for the past two weeks. Hayley turned around, facing the door, wondering who the two blondes were discussing.

“Wait, Freya,” Hayley turned her best friend, “Isn’t that the girl?”

_Well, there it is._

Rebekah spun around in her chair, looking at her colleague, before turning back to her sister, then back to her colleague, then back to her sister. “No, no it can’t be,” She turned and looked at the doctor, who was currently making her way to the table next to the Mikaelsons’, “Oh my god! It is.”

The three girls carried theirs and their brothers’ drinks back to the table, purposefully going a longer way round as to avoid Keelin and her friends. The girls passed the drinks around the table before scooching Freya in to the back of the booth.

“You alright, guys?” Klaus asked the girls, very confused at his sisters’ behaviour.

“Tu sais la fille que Freya a un crush sur? Ouais et bah elle est assise à la table à côté de nous” Rebekah explains to her brothers.

_(You know the girl Freya has been crushing on? Yeah well she’s just sat on the table next to us.)_

The three men looked over at the table next to them, which received a knock on the table from Hayley, berating them for being so obvious, “Subtle guys, very subtle.”

The family watched as Keelin and her friends went to the bar to order drinks.

“I can’t believe this is happening. Why does this have to happen?” Freya grumbled to her siblings, “Why can’t I just have one night of peace with no drama.” While Freya was speaking the words in a humorous manner, her family knew the underlying message behind her complaint – ‘I just got over what happened last time I saw her, I can’t do this again yet’.

The blonde excused herself to go to the bathroom, sneaking away whilst the brunette doctor was still away from the table. After an agreement from her brothers, Rebekah went after Freya, closely followed by Hayley, both girls wanting to make sure the eldest Mikaelson was okay.

“You good, sis?” Rebekah asked her oldest sibling, coming up behind her and resting her head on the other blonde’s shoulder. She looked at her sister through the mirror as Hayley came to the other side of Freya.

“I’m fine,” Freya said to the two girls, both of whom didn’t seem convinced “Genuinely, I’m okay. Elijah and I spoke about it all and I realised that my mood was coming from my fear of emotions and feelings because of what happened with Mathias.”

“What happened with Mat wasn’t your fault Freya,” Hayley took her best friend’s hand.

“Your boyfriend said the same,” Freya explained to the girls about her conversation with Elijah the night before, “At the end of it all, I realised I can’t let it get in the way of my life.”

The three girls stayed in that position for a while before freshening up and heading back out into the bar and to their booth. As they approached the table, they noticed Keelin and her friends had returned. At closer inspection, the girls realised that it was the same group of people as the previous time they were in the bar, except with one other man. He was early 20s, with dark curly hair and blue eyes. As the three walked past the table, Freya made eye contact with Keelin and the two shared a smile.

The girls slipped back into the booth to hear their brother’s discussing who the King of Jazz is, “It’s obviously Buddy Bolden; he is literally the father of New Orleans Jazz!” Kol exclaimed, “He’s the reason we have Kid Ory and Joe King Oliver and Louis Armstrong!”

Klaus and Elijah chuckled at their brother’s enthusiasm, “Brother, you are mistaken. The King of Jazz is Paul Whiteman. As Duke Ellington said, no one else has come anywhere near close to owning that title with as much dignity,” Elijah explained to his brother, taking a sip of his drink.

“Memorising Duke Ellington’s autobiography now are we, Elijah?” Freya teased her brother as she got back involved in the conversation.

“What do you think then, Freya?” Klaus asked his older sister.

“I never thought I’d say this,” Freya began, “But I have to agree with Kol. Buddy Bolden essentially paved the way for jazz through his rearrangement of traditional songs into ragtime music and rural blues. He was known to the people of New Orleans as ‘King Bolden’, and you want to tell me he isn’t the King of Jazz?”

The family were impressed by their sister’s knowledge of jazz history, and their shock showed on their faces, “What? I know things.”

The siblings spent the next hour laughing and joking and discussing jazz in much more depth, which Hayley and Rebekah _loved._ More and more, Freya kept catching Keelin’s eye, as if the brunette was watching the family, and her family all noticed the smile that grew on her face every time.

“I’m gonna go get another drink, anyone want one?” Freya asked her siblings. With a chorus of declines, she manoeuvred her way out of the booth and across Rousseau’s to the bar.

As she waited for the bartender to pour her drink, Freya heard a voice next to her, “I agree with you by the way.” Freya turned her head to see the object of her recent affection sat on the seat next to her, “Buddy Bolden is the King of Jazz. I mean I’d go as far to say he’s the founding father of New Orleans Jazz.”

Before the two could talk more, Josh came over with Freya’s drink, giving her an excuse to leave and return to her family.

“I didn’t know you two knew each other,” Josh said to Keelin, who he had become friends with since she moved to town.

“We don’t, not really,” Keelin shook her head, “We’ve only had like three conversations – if you’d even call them that.” She picked up the drink her friend had poured for her and took a sip. “I see her here a lot – her and her family.”

“Yeah, the Mikaelsons own a part of the bar; helped my dad get out a tough spot a few years ago so they don’t really go anywhere else.”

Josh returned to work and Keelin carried her drink back to her group’s table.

“Guess that didn’t go well then?” One of her friends joked.

Meanwhile, at the Mikaelsons’ table, a similar conversation was occurring.

“You should just actually talk to her,” Rebekah told her sister, “Tell her she’s caught your eye.”

“Qu’est-ce que je vais dire? Salut je vous ai observée pendant des semaines et maintenant j’ai le courage de te parler! Je suis Freya. Oh oui ça va marcher, je vais paraître totalement saine d’espri” Freya exclaimed, at a slighter louder volume than she expected.

_(What am I going to say? Hi I’ve watched you for weeks now building up the courage to talk to you! I’m Freya. Oh yes that’ll work, I’ll seem completely sane)_

With this, the brunette looked at the eldest Mikaelson, chuckling. _She couldn’t be laughing at what Freya said, right?_

“I don’t think that’s quite what Rebekah meant, Freya,” Elijah calmly interjected, “I think what she meant was that you could approach this girl in an adult way and actually start a conversation with her.” _Ever the diplomat_.

Freya considered her siblings’ suggestion, knowing, ultimately, that they were right. She couldn’t avoid the woman forever, especially given their interactions so far, and you know, the fact she’s all the blonde had thought about since she first walked through the doors of Rousseau’s.

Freya watched Keelin and her friends for the rest of the night and around 10pm, most of the girl’s friends had started to leave – a blonde woman, around Kol’s age; an African-American man, a little taller than her brothers and a younger, brunette girl who looked too young to be in the bar – leaving only Keelin and the man she had been with last time.

“How do we even know she’s into girls?” Freya asked her siblings, “Like, I’m pretty sure that’s her boyfriend.” Freya looked over at the two sat on the table only a few meters away. They were laughing about something, sharing nuts from a bowl as they sipped on their drinks in between sentences.

“There’s no way that woman is straight,” Hayley stated, matter-of-factly, to the shock of her boyfriend and his family, “What? I know you all think the same!”

“And how exactly did you come to that conclusion, my dear Hayley,” Elijah asked his girlfriend of two years.

“Well for starters, look at how many rings she has on,” The family all focused in on the hands of the woman, which did, in fact, have rings on almost every finger, and both thumbs, “The only other girl we know that wears that many rings is Freya, and well, I think we all know where I’m going with that.” Freya raises her eyebrows and chuckles at her best friend, who ignores Freya and continues with her explanation, “Then look at her tattoos and the placement of them… Straight people do not have tattoos there.” She grabbed Kol’s wrist, pulling the sleeve of his shirt up above his elbow and points to his arm, “See no tattoos.” She does the same with Rebekah and Klaus, making the same point. “But again, with Freya,” She rolls her best friend’s sleeve up, showing the blonde’s tattoo to the family, a tattoo which is in the exact same position as Keelin’s.

“So what?” Freya interjects, “So what if she has some rings and some tattoos, that doesn’t make her gay.”

“The fact she hasn’t looked at anyone all night other than you might though,” Rebekah supplies to her sister. She turns to the eldest Mikaelson, “You know we’re just messing, right? You don’t have to do talk to her if you don’t want to.”

At that moment, Keelin and the man stood up, the sound of the wooden chairs moving along the floor breaking the Mikaelson’s out of their little bubble. The man hugged Keelin, “You sure you’re gonna be okay?” He asked her as she picked up their glasses and bowls.

“I’ll be fine Vince, you go! I’ve booked a cab already, it’ll be here in about 20 minutes,” She told _Vince_ , “It’s no problem, honestly.”

The two hugged again before heading their separate ways – Vincent out the door and Keelin to the bar.

“Told you – not her boyfriend,” Hayley deadpanned. The family all looked seriously at the brunette, before breaking out into laughter, drawing the attention of most of the bar, Keelin included.

In that minute, Freya decided she was going to go talk to the woman. She informed her family of the decision and moved towards the bar, hearing a chorus of whoops and cheers and laughter from behind her as she did so. She flipped her family the bird over her shoulder, chuckling to herself as she approached Keelin.

“Hi,” Freya greeted her, “Is this seat taken?” She gestured to the empty bar stool next to the doctor, already knowing it wasn’t taken.

“No, feel free,” The brunette nodded her head towards the seat, conveying to Freya it was fine for her to sit down.

“I’m Freya,” The blonde informed Keelin, “I know we’ve spoken before and I know your name but I realised you don’t know mine.”

“I did know actually,” Keelin turned her head away from the spot it had been locked on behind the bar to look the blonde sat next to her. Leaning in close, she whispered into Freya’s ear, “Qu’est-ce que je vais dire? Salut je vous ai observée pendant des semaines et maintenant j’ai le courage de te parler! Je suis Freya. Oh oui ça va marcher, je vais paraître totalement saine d’espri.”

Freya was mortified. She sat very still, as if her lack of movement made her invisible to the brunette. Keelin spoke French. Keelin had just repeated back to her the exact sentence she had earlier said to her family. Keelin had heard Freya say she’d been watching her for weeks.

Keelin leant back in her chair, putting some distance between herself and Freya, and laughed lightly at the blonde’s reaction, “It’s okay. I can’t act as if you didn’t pique my interest over the past couple of weeks.”

Hearing Keelin’s voice shook Freya back into action.

“Maybe we should start again,” The doctor said, extending her hand to Freya, “Hi, I’m Keelin. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Freya took the brunette’s hand, shaking it lightly, “Freya Mikaelson. The pleasure’s all mine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it guys! I loved including the King of Jazz section in this fic as I always have felt like the Mikaelson's would be huge Jazz fans and as a Jazz fan myself, I really enjoyed writing about Buddy Bolden and Paul Whiteman. That conversation is actually based off a conversation a friend and I had a few months ago :) As always, kudos and comments are hugely appreciated! Let me know your thoughts about this chapter and what you'd like tosee in the future :) Much love <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Sorry for the slight delay getting this chapter up, I've had a super hectic week! But it's here now and I really hope you all enjoy it :)

“So, Freya Mikaelson,” Keelin released the blonde’s hand, “What made you come over here now? You’ve had all night.”

The blonde looked down and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, “You were here with friends, I didn’t wanna disturb you or interrupt or anything” She chuckled, “Plus, I’m not sure if you noticed but my family are pretty loud, pretty involved in my life.” The girls shared a laugh.

Keelin beckoned Josh over, “One more for me and one of whatever she’s having.”

“Wow, you actually spoke to her then,” Josh turned his attention to Freya, “It’s about time.” He poured the two girls their drinks before moving from behind the bar and over toward the Mikaelson family table, sitting down where Freya had been, next to Rebekah.

Freya swirled the ice around in her glass, “So how long have you been in town?” She asked the brunette, “My sister mentioned you were new to hospital.”

“Yeah, I moved from Austin about a month ago, started working at the hospital about two weeks ago,” Keelin explained to Freya, “It’s funny, I kept thinking that your sister seemed familiar and when I saw you this morning it clicked that I knew her from here and from seeing you here with her.”

Freya thought back to the night the doctor was talking about, “I’m so sorry you had to see me like that that night,” Freya diverted her eyes away from Keelin’s, embarrassed at how drunk she had gotten. Keelin chuckled and comforted the blonde, telling her it was no problem and that everyone had nights like that sometimes.

“On the topic of apologising,” Freya continued, “I need to apologise for blanking you at the store the other day… I was shocked to see you there and my mind just went to panic mode and I just, yeah, I’m sorry.”

“Hey you don’t have to apologise for that, Freya,” Keelin put her almost empty drink back on the bar top, “We didn’t even know each other’s names then, I wasn’t expecting a full blown conversation.” She put her hand on the blonde’s knee comfortingly. Both girls felt slight tingles at the touch, causing Keelin to pull away quite quickly.

“What about you then?” Keelin brought the conversation back to what it had previously been, “When did you move to New Orleans?”

Freya explained that she had lived in the city since she was born, only leaving to go to college. “I lived in New York for just over a year after college but moved back here five years ago, when I was 24.”

On the other side of the bar, the Mikaelson family, plus Josh, were trying to not interrupt the two girls by being too obvious and so attempted to carry on with general conversation, to little avail. “How do you think it’s going?” Rebekah asked, not wanting to turn around in her seat and peer over the back of the booth at her sister and Keelin.

“Exactly the same as when Hayley asked 5 minutes ago. They’re talking, the same as they have been doing since Freya went over there.” He turned to Josh, “What do you know about this Keelin girl anyway?”

As owner of New Orleans’ most popular bar, Josh knew the business of near enough everyone in town. “She’s new to town, moved here a few weeks ago from Texas. She had a few friends here already; I think that’s why she came here.” Josh didn’t know much about Keelin’s past, only the small details she had mentioned to her friends, “She left Texas because she was sick of doing the same thing every day and wanted a change.” He looked over at the two girls, “She seems like a good person.” He turned back to Klaus, who was watching the two girls keenly.

Klaus was very protective of his entire family, but Freya especially. She had experienced a lot of loss in her life and despite being younger than his sister, he felt a need to protect her and keep her safe from loss. He didn’t want his sister to be in pain again, not after the pain she had already experiences, specifically over the past five or so years.

The two girls laughed, snapping Klaus out of his trance, causing him to look back at Josh, “You better be right.”

Josh clapped Klaus on the shoulder as he stood up, walking away from the table and back towards the bar.

“So tell me about your family then,” Keelin said, smiling at Josh as he appeared behind the bar once again. “It seems like having that many siblings could be a lot sometimes.”

Freya glanced over at her siblings, all of whom quickly turned away from the blonde, realising they had been caught watching the girls’ conversation. “Yeah, it can be but, I wouldn’t have it any other way,” She turned back to Keelin, “I have four brothers and a sister. Elijah is a year younger than me; he’s very sensible, very well put together. You can usually find him wearing a suit, even at home – it’s kind of his thing. I mean I guess it works because he’s been with his girlfriend, Hayley, for two years and she lives with us now. Then it’s Klaus, my half-brother, he’s 27. My mom had a one night stand with this guy that she didn’t even know the name of when she and my dad were going through a rough patch and we ended up with another brother,” She looked over at her brothers, who were currently bickering over something, just not loud enough for Freya to hear what they were saying, “Then there’s Kol, he’s 26 and a pain in my ass most of the time. He was who I was with the night I got very drunk,” The girls laughed at the memory, “He’s a contractor and he works with Klaus and I sometimes – we run an interior design company – and he helped us renovate this place about a year ago. Then the youngest is Rebekah, who you know, she’s 24 and she’s been a nurse for about a year now.” Freya smiled at Keelin, who was listening fixedly to the blonde.

“You said have four brothers,” Keelin started, “But you only mentioned three then.”

_Finn._

Freya looked at her lap, “I had an older brother, Finn, and I guess I just still count him when I’m talking about my family.” Keelin took Freya’s hand in her own, making the blonde look back up and into the eyes of the girl she’d been thinking of non-stop for the past couple of weeks.

“I’m so sorry,” Keelin squeezed the blonde’s hand, “You don’t have to explain, I understand.”

Josh came up to the girls, not noticing their joined hands yet, and alerted Keelin to the fact she had a cab outside waiting for her.

“Could you just let them know I changed my mind? I’m gonna stay a little while longer,” Josh noticed the position the two girls were currently in and realised they were in the middle of something.

“Of course I can,” He left the girls to their conversation and headed outside.

There was a moment of silence before Freya spoke again, “He died five years ago. Car accident. He and my parents were on their way to pick me up from college and a drunk driver hit them,” She swallowed the lump forming in her throat, “My mom and dad, they died instantly but I got a call from the hospital in New York that Finn had been brought in. He had a brain bleed and a punctured lung and they thought he’d make it but there were complications in surgery and he died a few hours later.” Freya wiped her eyes, clearing the tears that threatened to fall.

The brunette wrapped Freya in a hug, “I’m so sorry Freya. I can’t even imagine what that must’ve been like.”

The two girls sat for a while longer talking about themselves and their families – Keelin was an only child and had good relationships with both her parents. At around 12:45pm, the Mikaelson family came over to the girls, announcing that they were going to head home because everyone was getting tired from the long day. Freya hugged goodbye to her siblings and told them not to wait up.

“So, who were the people you were here with tonight? Friends, a partner?” Freya asked the brunette, who was on her final drink of the night after Josh called for last orders.

Keelin chuckled at the thought of one of her friends being a significant other. “Uh, no, no partner, just friends. Vincent, the guy I was with last time we were here, I met him back in Austin, same with Marcel. They were working with a charity there and needed some help from the hospital and we just stayed in touch after they left. They were the only people I knew when I moved here so I kinda became close with them and their friends. The two girls were Cami and Davina. They’ve both lived here a while, I’m surprised you don’t know them.” Keelin thought about the people she had quickly come to call her friends. Vincent was the only member of the group that was the same age as herself, with everyone else being four or five years younger. Or in Davina’s case, 7 years younger than her at age 23. “In terms of a partner, no I don’t have one. I did until about a year ago when she got tired of my work hours. Being an ER doctor, I don’t have set hours you know; there could be a huge trauma and I’d have to stay super late and she didn’t like that so she broke up with me.”

So she was into girls. Freya smiled inwardly at the thought.

It was another half an hour before Josh told the girls that he was closing up for the night. Freya and Keelin looked around the bar to notice they were the only people left aside from Josh and two of his staff members. They apologised to their friend for losing track of time and staying so late. They wished a goodnight to Josh before grabbing their coats and heading into the cold New Orleans night. Bourbon Street was still bustling with people, despite the late hour, and the streets were still full of light. Freya, knowing more of New Orleans, led the two of them to Washington Artillery Park and crossed the road to the waterside, sitting down on a bench that looked out over the Mississippi River. Freya placed her jacket over the back of the bench as Keelin pulled hers tighter, obviously not yet used to the colder weather in New Orleans. The two girls sat in silence for a while, enjoying the night time breeze and watching coloured lights reflecting onto the water, dancing in the wind. They were comfortable in each other’s company, which was an odd feeling for Freya, given how she’d reacted around the brunette doctor over the past few weeks.

Freya saw Keelin checking her watch, “You can head off if you want; I know it’s late.” She offered the girl an out, not actually wanting the girl to leave.

The doctor looked up at Freya and smiled, “It’s okay. I’m off work tomorrow so I don’t have to worry about an early start or anything,” Keelin paused, “Unless you have to work and I’m keeping you out.”

“No, I mean, I own a business” Freya explained, “So it’s kinda my choice when I go in and when I don’t.”

“Oh my god,” Keelin exclaimed, realising she had not yet asked Freya what she did for a living.

“Klaus and I own an interior design company,” The blonde started, “I do the money and logistics side of things and he’s a painter. He does personalised murals for people in their houses. Kol helps us sometimes – he’s a contractor – but it’s mainly Klaus and I. We’re still setting up properly but you know, we’ve been working out of house for a year and it’s been going really well so we’re currently in the process of setting up an official office.”

Keelin smiled as she saw Freya’s eyes light up and her smile grow wider and she grew excited talking about the business.

“What?” Freya laughed.

“You have a really nice smile,” Keelin pointed out to the girl. Her eyes flicked down to the blonde’s lips and back up to her eyes.

Both girls stopped laughing, the moment becoming serious, the air growing thick. The girls moved closer, closing some of the distance between them.

A moment passed before Freya coughed, breaking the moment. The blonde decided that it was time for her to leave.

“I’m gonna head off. I know I told my family not to stay up but they will have done so I should probably get home so that they aren’t up much longer,” Freya spilled out, falling over her words as she stood up. She pulled her coat on and stood up, leaving before Keelin could even say goodbye. She walked briskly down the street, not looking back at Keelin.

Behind her, the brunette was still sat on the bench, slightly in shock. She was confused as to what had just happened. One minute the girls had been talking and laughing, the next Freya was just gone. She stood up from the bench and looked around, not really knowing the way home. She pulled her phone out of her coat pocket and pulled up the maps app. She entered in her home address and started the walk home. Despite the late hour, the walk home was done completely in the light. Pink, purple, red, blue – lights came from people’s homes, from bars, from street lamps. There were still people on the roads; drunken people coming home from the bar, musicians packing instruments up, shop owners heading home after finally closing. Keelin smiled at a few people she knew as she walked – John, the owner of the bakery Davina worked at, Michael, one of the bartenders at Rousseau’s, Anna, one of the nurses from work. It wasn’t long before she arrived at her apartment building. It was close enough to town that it was easy to get around without needing to drive, but far enough out that she didn’t hear the sounds of the streets until the early hours of the morning. She made the hike up to her 6th floor apartment, unlocking the door and kicking it shut and she shook off her coat, dropping it straight to the floor rather than hanging it up and flopping onto the couch. The doctor’s apartment was still rather bare; boxes were still stacked all around the house, not opened from Keelin’s move.

She kicked off her shoes before trudging through to her bedroom. She threw herself down onto her bed, bouncing a little with the impact. The only light in the room came from the street outside, Keelin not yet having put a bulb in the room. The doctor curled up fully dressed on the bed, pulling a blanket over her and attempting to sleep.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Freya arrived home to find her whole family asleep. She wasn’t surprised, after all her family were just an excuse to leave the awkward situation. She toed off her shoes, pushing them to the side of the hall out of the way. She made her way through the house and up the stairs as quietly as she could, making sure not to wake any of her siblings. Freya tiptoed down the hall, past Rebekah and Kol’s rooms and to her own, which was right at the end of the long hallway. Once in her room, she leant back against the door, taking a moment to breathe. She had wanted to kiss Keelin. She’d only really known the girl for a few hours.

She threw her coat and bag over the chaise lounge at the bottom of her bed before slipping out of her clothes and into her pyjamas. She closed her eyes, ready to sleep but only one image came to her mind.

Keelin's face falling as Freya got up from that bench. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always guys, kudos are greatly appreciated and feel free to leave any comments about what you think and what you hope to see in future chapters <3


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